Max 2010 Dts exporter availability?

#21 Hello? Is anyone listening to our pleads? Have they fallen on deaf ears? :( We feel so cold and alone and... unsupported here

#22 OK, I think I got this compiled right, have a go, let me know if it works for you :)
DownLoad

some info: this is from the oldie but goodie max2dts (Not PRO or PLUS),
using the patch file Feng Ning made for Max9 ... see HERE (Thanx Feng :) )

#23 Oh Boy! Thanks Hewster. I am going to go and run this puppy through its paces now and see if anything pops up (which I doubt).

#24 Nuts! I'm on holiday so I can't help test it.
Thanks Hewster - fingers crossed and sending positive thoughts :D

#25 I tested it quickly with a good-ole Orc export..worked great so far. +9kb on filesize, prob. file info added by max.

Thanks Feng and Hewster for not only finding Feng's stuff but for the time spent on this. I tried searching out source info for the regular exporter but I came up empty handed and attempted the pro compile. ..& while regular shapes exported properly, players caused crashes..so I was not going to release the exporter in that condition...in fact, I trashed it anyways :P.

so, thx again!

#26 To all.. you more than welcome :)

@eb.. yeah.. took a while to find Feng's max9 stuff, I had nearly got
there without it, but exporting with multires was still crashing
(I didn't know about the IParamBlock change).
If your really wana thank me, you could pass a copy of your 'doit 1.0'
in my direction :D (Don't ask.. Don't get hehe)

And regarding the Plus and Pro versions.. has their been a version
that has ever exported characters? I know I tried it a while back,
and although looks very nice, it was not a patch on the more simple,
original exporter IMO.

Also it seems we do still need to use the unmessdts tool to fix
LOD for characters using multires(it often reduces file size a little too).
Shame someone cannot either include what unmess does into torque, or into
the exporter itself.
(seems very err.. unfriendly, esp. for people new to torque)
I wonder if the source code of unmess is available.

I would also like to say here how dismayed at GG I am for their lack
of input in this thread. Things like exporters should not be down to
3rd parties IMHO. (We really need asset workflow to be easier, again,
esp. for new owners)

#27 Awesome! I'll unload 2009 and reload 2010.

That's excellent news. Thanks for that.


Lee.

#28 Heh, we can chat about that Hewster. If you help me find a few posts about max exporter issues(see below), I will gladly give you a license since you found the key to this situation that will help many people(Feng's patch). I have compiled the max2010 exporter with a few changes...and I would like to add more if we can find them in this humongous site. So, try and help this situation out a bit more and you've got a deal Hewster.

1.(There was a normal/smooth-groups fix. This forced the max exporter to use the max smooth groups and afaik caused it to avoid splitting the mesh in ugly locations that broke your smoothing groups apart.)
UPDATE: I am not getting this DTS issue from TGEA 1.8.1 in T3D. Both DTS and collada are obeying my smooth groups...so this may be a non-existant issue in T3D. We'll see.

2. There are other small issues..but I can't think of any right now. Perhaps Logan remembers 1 or a few.

As for my changes:
//--------------
- I raised details/collisions cumulative count to 50. So... 1 lod and 49 collisions or 50 lods..etc. ( I raised this because I know there may be a use for it at some point for someone. I wanted todo 100, but that caused an elongated export time and a dts file that caused havoc on max and T3D. (they both crash from an unknown reason. I don't feel like speding my time on getting more details available...as it is not a huge gain for the time spent. blah blah blah. )

//EDIT: - My version does need unmess.dts

- "BBZ::" and "BB::" work (they may work on Hewster's exporter too, but I have not tested that.)

- "SORT::" ... I am guessing that GG removed it from their privately stashed DTSsdk packages. I could be wrong but my sort meshes are invisible in T3D and the (B5)T3Dshowtool is no help. Is anyone having T3D sort issues ?
//--------------

Anyone want to help me seek the issues ? ..just post a link to whatever you can find in this mammoth site.
-eb

//edit: I will release the exporter I compiled once it gets a few more fixes and after I test it thoroughly. ;)

#29 @eb, re smoothing groups, see HERE :)

EDIT: I R Search master LOL

#30 Man, u iz the GG search mastah! You have helped many people by finding this information! Email me for your package.

#31 eb, from my stand point I feel I must coin the phrase:
"we're but standing on the shoulders of giants"

I just thank the Lord I don't suffer from vertigo!

Another favourite phrase of mine is "Adopt, adapt and improve"

E-mail sent (ty very much!), the address I have send from is my personal addy,
please do not share with anyone :)

Cheers,

Hewster

#32 Ok I've used the 2010 exporter which seems to export ok to open in torque 3d nicely. However, anything exported in the new exporter will not open in showtool pro (1.04). It doesn't error or anything but just doesn't open the file.

I've checked that 1.04 is the latest version of showtool pro. Can you think of any reason why it will not open the file?


Note, objects created with previous versions open in showtool pro.

Kind Regards,

Lee.

#33 ..turns out that I did not sort out the unmessdts situation in my exporter version. :/ I don't plan to bother with anymore exporter changes.

I have compiled max2dts for the following:
*NOTE:DTS version 24 works in TGE, TGEA, T3D and other engines. DTSVersion 25 only works in T3D afaik.
- Max2010 for DTSversion 24 with 100 maxdetails (max2dts_max2010_DTSv24_100detail.dle)
- Max9 for DTSversion 24 with 100 max details (max2dts_max9_DTSv24_100detail.dle)
//EDITED IN:
- Max2009 for DTSversion 24 with 100 maxdetails (max2dts_max2009_DTSv24_100detail.dle)

DOWNLOAD the max2dts_100detail_exporters.zip HERE(get the newest version with LOD fix
*The package also includes 'unmessdts.exe' and 'adjustLODs.mcr'.

***I know 100 maxdetails is overkill, but it's there if someone needs it. Please be aware that 99 Collision volumes and 1 LOD is not 'ideal' but it is possible. The exporter worked great on 99 boxes(as 1 object) with 99 collision volumes(see image below). However, the exporter did crash max when using 99 semi-complex meshes(as 1 object) and 99 collision volumes. I did not search out the breaking point for that...so be aware that this 100 count is not fool-proof.

(At the time of this post, it is known that T3D prefers DTSversion 26. However, we'll need to wait for the version 26 source to compile our own exporters..unless they happen to do it for us.)

This image shows the 99 boxes(as 1 object) and 99 collision volumes model in T3D's showtool.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The max2010 exporter was tested by myself through several days of use.
The max9 exporter was not tested..but should be fine. ;)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

//Edit: thanks again to 'search master Hewster' and Feng Ning.

#34 eb,

Ah Okay, I think i understand. Exporting with the your exporter from the previous link saves in dtsversion 25 so that explains why its great in torque3D, but not in showtool pro. As showtool works for previous versions (< 24).

Does that mean that showtool is now deprecated and replaced by the shape editor?

Is that correct or have a completely misunderstood?

Interestingly, I've been playing around with exporting an animated character in collida with some strange results. Your exporter seems to deliver what you would expect with objects in the correct places, whereas collida seems to end up with a wierd collapsed character, something to do with geometry being stripped on export. I am going to do some more experiments with differing options. (I'll understand this eventually! :D )



Once again, thanks for the exporter!

Kind Regards,

Lee.

#35 I have not tried to export a collada player since the TGEA collada testing. Some people said they have done it without issue, so I would assume it is the export settings that is breaking your attempts. Also, try Fcollada exporter, perhaps they are not using the fbx/dae exporter from autodesk..I simply don't know.

I would not say that ShowtoolPro is useless..TGE, TGEA, TGB and others can still use it..but it does not work for versions >24 of course. Maybe someone will add more functions to T3Dshowtool so it can do what Showtool pro was capable of...but without the idiosyncrasies.

I am really interested in what Version 26 brings to the table when compared to version 24. Perhaps I will ask in a new thread.

#36 FYI:
Exporter only works in 32bit versions of Max.

#37 Could you make the source code you used to build those available?
And what is that unmess about, and why is it needed?

#38 JW, since you have ample experience and are a Torque veteran, sure.


//edit: unmessdts.exe is used to make exported player model deformable meshes work as intended with LOD...at least this is what we're told. There is info out there, don't be lazy, use search bro!

//edit #2, do you have access to a MaxSDK ? if not, then the source will be useless to you.

#39 is this 2010 exporter working with TGB?? it seems to export dts files but they are under 1kb and show up empty in TGB

*Edit* I got it working, I had to click Embed Shape as the other way of making a hierarchy in max wasn't working

#40 "other way" of making a hierarchy ?
Linking by hand does work if the nodes are properly named...so I am not sure what you're talking about Ezra. If you want to explain, that would be nice of you.